Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Has $9.44 Million Holdings in PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of PPG Industries, Inc. (NYSE:PPG) by 6.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,991 shares of the specialty chemicals company’s stock after buying an additional 5,036 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in PPG Industries were worth $9,435,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of PPG Industries in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Albion Financial Group UT acquired a new stake in PPG Industries during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of PPG Industries in the fourth quarter valued at $42,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PPG Industries in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Finally, Millstone Evans Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of PPG Industries during the fourth quarter valued at $46,000. 81.86% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on PPG shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on PPG Industries from $115.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on PPG Industries from $153.00 to $135.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Bank of America restated a “neutral” rating and set a $126.00 price target (down from $143.00) on shares of PPG Industries in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of PPG Industries from $110.00 to $111.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 30th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of PPG Industries from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, PPG Industries presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $128.42.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Timothy M. Knavish sold 4,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $118.35, for a total value of $568,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 35,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,240,835.55. This represents a 11.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

PPG Industries Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE PPG opened at $114.18 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $106.58 and its 200-day simple moving average is $115.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 1.13 and a current ratio of 1.58. PPG Industries, Inc. has a 52 week low of $90.24 and a 52 week high of $137.24. The firm has a market cap of $25.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 1.20.

PPG Industries (NYSE:PPG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The specialty chemicals company reported $1.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.67 billion. PPG Industries had a net margin of 6.41% and a return on equity of 23.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.87 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that PPG Industries, Inc. will post 7.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

PPG Industries Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 12th will be issued a dividend of $0.68 per share. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 12th. PPG Industries’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.24%.

PPG Industries Company Profile

PPG Industries, Inc manufactures and distributes paints, coatings, and specialty materials in the United States, Canada, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through two segments, Performance Coatings and Industrial Coatings. The Performance Coatings segment offers coatings, solvents, adhesives, sealants, sundries, and software for automotive and commercial transport/fleet repair and refurbishing, light industrial coatings, and specialty coatings for signs; wood stains; paints, thermoplastics, pavement marking products, and other advanced technologies for pavement marking for government, commercial infrastructure, painting, and maintenance contractors; and coatings, sealants, transparencies, transparent armor, adhesives, engineered materials, and packaging and chemical management services for commercial, military, regional jet, and general aviation aircraft.